Pho (pronounced as Fuh) is a Vietnamese “Kway Teow” Soup with flat rice noodle, swimming in a bowl of rich and flavourful broth that is traditionally brewed for hours with spices and herbs.
I’m a fan of Vietnamese Pho and will had it every week during my 4 years in Melbourne, Australia – a city flooded with Authentic Vietnamese Café. Back in Singapore, there are not much Authentic ones near me and cooking it is an hassle because traditionally, it requires hours of simmering the stock until the bone marrow breaks down and broth to become robust in flavour.
Until 1 fine day….
This recipe only requires 15 minutes of simmering the broth, with another 10 to 15 minutes of preparation and blanching of noodles & beef. Feel free to substitute the beef stock and sliced beef with chicken stock and sliced chicken.
These are the ingredients that you need:
Boil the onions, star anise and cinnamon in a pot of beef stock and water and lower the heat to allow it to simmer for another 15 mins
When the broth is ready, blanch the noodles in the broth and divide into the serving bowls
Then blanch the beef in the same broth and top it on the noodles
Scoop a generous amount of broth over the bowl of beef noodles and garnish with chopped spring onions and chili (optional)
Serve with a plate of beansprout (raw or blanched), lime wedges, basil, mint leaves and additional sliced chilli.
Viola ~ Simple yet the taste is as good as the Authentic ones you had in a Vietnamese Restaurant. For a more herby and some sourish kick? Squeeze some lime and pluck in some mint and basil and add in some beansprout. That’s how Vietnamese savour their bowl of Pho. *Slurp Slurp*
- 500ml Beef Stock
- 500ml Water
- 1 Star Anise
- 1 Piece Cinnamon Stick
- 50g Sliced Onion
- 6g Ginger
- 3 teaspoons Sugar
- 2 tablespoons Fish Sauce
- 200 to 300g Flat Rice Noodles (Kway Teow)
- 200g Sliced Well Marbled Beef
- 50g Beansprout (Raw or blanched); more for beansprout lover
- Small bunch of basil leaves
- Small Bunch of Mint Leaves
- 1 big Lime (Cut into wedges)
- 2 Chili Padi (Sliced) - Optional
- Chopped Spring Onions
- In a saucepan, add in all the ingredients for the broth and bring it to boil
- After boil, lower the heat and allow it to simmer for 15 minutes
- Add in the seasoning and taste. Add more fish sauce if required
- In the same simmering broth, blanch the fresh flat rice noodles in a sieve for about 20 sec. For dried rice noodle stick, cook as per packaging instruction in a separate pot of boiling water
- Remove the noodle from the broth and divide into individual serving bowls
- Blanch the sliced beef in the beef broth for 10 sec or until the desired doneness in a sieve
- Remove it from the broth and place it on top of the noodles in the serving bowl
- Scoop a generous amount of broth and pour it over the beef and noodle
- Garnish with sprinkle of chopped spring onions and sliced cut chili padi (Optional)
- Serve with bowl of piping hot noodle with a place of Herbs and vegetable plate on the side. *If cooked beansprout is preferred than raw beansprout, blanch the beansprout in a separate pot of boiling water and not in the broth